Protections
by WaltD
Summary: Nick, Natalie, Wade, and the gang find out they are being protected whether they like it or not. Follows "Task Force"


_Forever Knight – the Continuing Story._

_The characters in _Forever Knight_were created by James Parriott and Barney Cohen and are the property of Sony/Columbia/Tri-Star. The stories here are fan fiction, in which Nick and Natalie survive "_Last Knight_", the series finale. Also, Vachon survived Divia in "_Ashes to Ashes_". This story may be archived wherever by whomever._

_Wade Everett is a good-looking, capable, smart-ass, and gay homicide detective who's sometimes full of himself. He's temporarily assigned to the 96th and Nick while Nick's partner, Tracy (who also survived _LK_) recuperates. He's found out what Nick is. _

_These stories follow Complaint, Status Quo etc. and take place six months to a year after Last Knight._

**Protections **(Tasked Force Series 2/4)** - **Walt Doherty  
(Follows "Task Force - Group's Therapy".)  
.

Muscle

_Physical, physical, let's get physical  
-- Physical, Olivia Newton-John  
_

The loft gate slide open with a bang. Javier Vachonstruggled in with his arms wrapped tightly around a young man.

"Legouhme, Lemmeego! I dindoo nothin'. Getcher hanzoffamee!"

"Yeah?, then what were you doing lurking around the garage all day? What're you after?" Vachon asked him.

The young man suddenly noticed Nick's standing in the middle of the loft and his mouth dropped open; shadows of fear flashed across his face. His eyes were opened wide.

Vachon, still holding him tight, but having quite a time controlling him, said to Nick, "I found him lurking outside; looked like he was trying to get into the garage. I thought he might be one of your homeless, but then I felt him as a vampire."

The young man started to 'vamp out', big mistake in the present company. Vachon still held on tightly, but Nick came over to them and put the man, or vampire apparently, into handcuffs and restraints. "Here," Nick said guiding him over to the couch, "sit here."

"Oh, shit. I wasn't supposed to get caught."

"Oh, really. Who are you, and why weren't you supposed to get caught, who asked you to do this?" Nick said in his best hypnotic vampire voice. It was so good that Vachon started to answer.

"It's o.k. Just tell us; we're waiting."

"I'm Bobby Jones. I'm one of the bouncers at the Raven. Mikloš hired us to watch out for you – stop anybody suspicious coming to the loft."

Nick said, "Us?"

"Oh, god! James is still out there. Oh, please let me go get James, he'll be frantic when he doesn't find me." Bobby started to get up, but Nick, Vachon, and the handcuffs stopped him. He looked up at Nick pleading with his eyes.

Nick asked Vachon to go take a look for another lurker, which he did, bringing back another protesting young vampire.

"Bobby are you o.k.," James asked seeing Bobby handcuffed on the couch.

"Yes, he is," said Nick. "Now, if you'll behave and sit still, I'll take these cuffs off. O.k.?"

"Yes, sir."

"Young man, I'm Nick Knight, this is Javier Vachon; your friend told us he was Bobby Jones, who are you?" Nick took the handcuffs off Bobby.

"'I'm James Jones, sir."

"Brothers?"

Bobby spoke up, "Just friends, sir." He didn't elaborate.

"And why are you hiding around my house?"

James looked over at Bobby, Bobby nodded, and James continued, "Mikloš asked us to keep an eye on you."

Bobby interrupted, "We're bouncers there, and Mikloš tries to keep us out of trouble. He asked us if we could watch you when we're off duty. I guess we didn't do so good." Bobby had a sheepish grin on his face. He reached over to James and took his hand. Nick and Vachon both took note of that.

"Well, gentlemen. Wait here for a bit. Javier, grill them if you'd like."

"You've got barbeque sauce, Knight? Salsa piquante, maybe?"

Nick started to open his mouth to reply, but decided better of it. He went off into a corner and called a certain bartender.  
.

Watchers

_. . . Oh, how I need  
Someone to watch over me  
-- Someone to Watch Over Me, "Oh, Kay!".  
_

Nick called Mikloš and spent a considerable amount of time on the phone with him.

"O.k., guys. Mikloš verified your stories. You're free to go, and you can still keep an eye on us, just let us know you're here, o.k.?"

"Yes, sir," Bobby said, obviously answering for both of them, "Thank you, sir." They got up and left.

"What was that all about?" Vachon asked.

"Apparently these two are a 'gift' from Isidris, uh, the senior vampire in the country."

"I thought that was LaCroix," Vachon said with a tone of disgust in his voice.

"Nope, even LaCroix has his cross to bear." Nick chuckled.

"Ya know, Knight, people have been drained for less. I think your partner's penchant for puns is rubbing off onto you. Who's Isidris?" Vachon frowned.

"Uh, yeah, maybe. She's the senior vampire in the country _and_ head of the enforcers. We had 'lunch' with her." Nick shivered.

"She wanted to talk about his scaring off two sets of enforcers. Apparently he impressed her. She also told us not to worry about LaCroix; she'd have a talk with him. Well, seems she doesn't trust him anymore than LaCroix trusts anyone else."

"Nice."

"Hard to say. These two are apparently here to 'protect' me if a certain area senior vampire should . . . well, you know. Plus, they're protecting any humans who happen on the area. Protectors can be nice, but overgrown, not-too-bright vampires might get carried away on their own." He shrugged.

"Uh, yeah."

"I've got these guys, two apparently. There's one or two keeping Fr. Pierre's church under watch. A couple are supposedly shadowing Natalie, never very close, or I think she would have noticed them. You ought to check to see in any are shadowing Tracy."

"May not be necessary; looks like _**I'm**_ shadowing Tracy. No offense, Nick, but don't you find this sort of annoying?"

"Well, to a certain extent. On the other hand, I don't think it's so much for our protection as it is a warning to a certain someone."

"Gee, Nick, I didn't think your partner was that dangerous."

"Hahaha. Yeah, right, if only," he laughed.

"Do you think this Isidris was concerned that LaCroix would do something?" Vachon asked.

"I'd say so," said Nick, "Otherwise, why go to the trouble?"

"Yeah, there is that," Vachon added.

Mikloš said, "They're good fighters, strong and persistent, loyal, but subtlety is not one of their strong points."

"Yeah, I think I understand," Nick responded. "They're o.k. on their own, but they do much better with a mentor around. I guess I'm the mentor now, huh? Anyway, thanks, I appreciate the thought."  
.

Fatherhood

_Whistled Theme from the Andy Griffith Show_

"Oh, hi, Javier! How ya doin'?"

"I'm fine, Nick. Can I ask where you've been the past two hours," Vachon asked with a sour note in his voice; "We were supposed to be meeting here to go over a few things."

"Ah, geez, Javier, I sorry, I completely forgot."

"Where were you? I didn't see the muscle twins around either."

"Ah, I took them down to Bold's 24/7 Gym and signed them up. You know I gave them a couple of Natalie's protein drinks and they love them! No accounting for taste. Anyway, they *love* the place, can't believe such places exist. I set up some rules and training programs for them."

"Nick, you know their physiques are not going to change."

"I know, Hav, but first, they don't and second, you should have seen them, they were like a couple of kids at their first Christmas. I don't think they've ever received a present before.

And, of course, now that I've done that for them, I'm god, or as good as."

"Welcome to fatherhood, Mr Knight, you are the proud parent of twins," Javier laughed.  
.

Taking Care of Business

_Taking care of business every day  
Taking care of business every way  
-- Taking Care of Business, Bachman-Turner Overdrive  
_

"Your own personal bodyguards? How nice. But now, what can _**I**_ get you for Christmas?" said Natalie.

"Gee, Nat, I don't know? Sun screen, sun block factor 2000x?

"Anyway, Did you ever expect to get involved with a guy with kids?"

"What are talking about, Nick?" she said hesitantly.

"I mean Frick and Frack , our muscle twin guardians. Apparently, I'm their surrogate father now. I treated them nice and bought them Gym memberships – apparently nobody had ever given them a gift before. Took me half an hour to clean up all the bloody tears."

Natalie smiled, "It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Well, Nick, this will be good for you. Good practice. Wait a minute. Oh, God!" her face turned white. "Does this mean that I'll be 'step-mom' to two muscle-bound vampire bouncers?"

This brought a large grin to Nick's face, "I'm sure they'll call you every day, spend every other week end with you, and get you flowers on Mothers Day like boys who love their mothers should."

"Oh, thanks, Detective Knight!" _Oops, Nick knew that whenever Natalie called him that that he was approaching, if not already in, trouble_.  
.

Won't You Be Our Bodyguards?

_If [they]'ll be [our] bodyguards  
[We] can be [their] long lost pal[s]  
-- You Can Call Me Al, Paul Simon  
_

"Have you talked with them, Nat? They really are good kids. They've had a hard life so far, but they're basically pretty decent, if not overly bright. They'll never hurt you, they'd die first. And, they'll die to protect you, too"

Natalie sighed, "Yes, I suppose they would. What will they do if we aren't around?"

"Nat. I'm immortal, remember?"

"You know, you're going to have to set up a home for wayward vampire tykes. And, yes, we've talked, Bobby is so excited about the body building course; it's a joy to see the light in his eyes. I guess we've got permanent bodyguards, don't we?"

"I'm going to talk with LaCroix and see if we can't get them a small apartment over the Raven. It'd be better for them there, more convenient, secure, and it would give us back some of our privacy," Nick said with a rueful smile.  
.

Bobby and James's Story

_Just the two of us  
We can make it if we try  
--Just the Two of Us, Bill Withers  
_

Bobby and James were two down and outers towards the end of the last century (i.e., 1990s) in New York City. Neither of them were the brightest bulbs in the New York marquee (or anyplace else either), but they were young, hard-working, and fairly honest. They were attracted to each other from the first. Both are a bit on the short side of stupid, but together they made out o.k. They were friends and looked out for each other. They also knew that they weren't the brightest things around and they'd never make a living off their brains, so they started training their bodies – that they could manage. Although a strong physique and muscles were no match for the idiot who brought them over.

Bobby was brought over first while James was out of the picture somewhere. Bobby was just waking up to the first hunger when James came in and he got up to attack James. He was knocked on his ass and out-cold by whatever it was that brought him over. When he woke, he found James in the same condition he was in. They shared each others blood instinctively for the vampire who brought them over had disappeared and left them to their own devices. A cruel fate as these two innocents were barely aware of their circumstances.

The sharing of blood awoke certain things within them. They realized from the blood-sharing that not only were they more than just friends, but that they loved each other. They weren't quite sure if this was o.k., but as no one had ever cared what they did before, they figured no one should care what they did now. The addition of vampire abilities fixed a few faults they had – suddenly, although they did not quite realize it, they had perfect teeth, albeit with a couple which would grow extraordinarily long if they were provoked. It helped repair their I.Q's some; not much, but some.

It took them some time to come around to what they were. There were no other vampires around –- that they knew of – so they had to learn about the sun the hard way. They learned about their healing powers almost accidentally – a thug's knife to the gut not only didn't hurt, but healed within minutes.

Tossing up whatever they ate showed them that they could no longer tolerate any kind of food, but they found that instinct took over for the feeding that a vampire needed to do. James had seen Bobby go off and feed on a drunken sailor, and he realized that he could do the same.

Little by little they managed to work things out and made a life for themselves.

A little after they had been brought over, they were found by a master vampire who took one look at them and took them on as his personal slaves. Not knowing any better, they accepted his control. In addition, they were amazed to find that there were others like themselves.

They were maltreated by this jerk for a couple of years.

Love is thicker than blood. When their 'benefactor' tried to molest James, Bobby attacked and apparently did it right, because the old vampire died, shriveled up, and disappeared before their eyes.

They had learned much. They would never be the leading lights of their or any generation, but they had become aware of their liabilities and therefore also their strengths. They learned to be discreet in taking blood. Still, they were mostly isolated from their own kind – they had never been shown how to search for and feel out other vampires.

Eventually, they managed to find senior vampires who needed some muscle and that became how they made their living, sort of junior apprentice enforcers for locals. They were fairly decent at it except that they were both soft-hearted, so it was hard for them sometimes. Their major strength was each other.

They loved each other totally and completely as well as innocently. At first, they didn't even know they were gay. When they found out, they shrugged, "So?" was their reaction.

They were loyal to their friends to a fault, and to their employers within reason.

The last few years they had acted as bouncers at small clubs in the Montreal area and had recently been hired for similar positions in Toronto. They had been working most recently as bouncers at the Raven of all places.

"That's how we knew who you was, sir. We seen you there talking to mon-sewer LahCraw." [Nick winced at their pronunciation of his sire's name – he half expected them to say "Lah Croiks"!]

What it all boiled down to, however, was that these two were brought over too early and were undeveloped and terribly unsure of themselves. They were two nice kids who had been made into vampires and barely knew how to survive, but they muddled through.  
.

Didn't you always want a puppy?

_How much is that doggie in the window  
The one with the waggly tail  
-- How Much Is that Doggie in the Window, Patti Page  
._

The task force group is meeting at Nick's loft:

"Well, I'm glad they have each other. I've never seen two people who were so into each other. It's almost as if they weren't two individuals, but one in two bodies," Nick said to Wade.

"I don't think that's too far off the mark, Nick," Wade answered. "Which is one thing that concerned me. James could carry on on his own, but Bobby is terribly dependent on him. Still, being vampires – which seems to have actually helped their intellect – the strength, agility, speed has helped them cope. I think they'll be alright. They're like Castor and Pollex, Damon and Pythias, Salt 'n' Pepa."

"Scylla and Charibdis? Leopold and Loeb?"

Wade picked up a pillow and hit Nick with it, "Nick! Geez! Give'm a break."

"Yeah, well, they'll apparently be staples in the background. They're working at the Raven as bouncers – they've certainly got the builds for it – "

Wade sighed and said with a sad smile, "Yeah, I noticed that. And they do seem like nice kids when you get to know them. Now, did _you _teach them the puppie-dog look, or did it just come naturally to them? Hmmmm?"

"By the way, folks, Isidris arranged for some bodyguards, for me at least. I would assume that if she thought _I_ needed them, then you might as well. Look around and see if there are a few people shadowing you, and let me know if you think you might need one.

"I contacted the 'Clean-Up Crewe'. They'll supply a few people to keep their eyes open. Not really bodyguards, but I suppose if push came to shove . . . . Mostly, you'll just see a couple of people loitering, no big deal. I'll introduce you any of them we get so you'll know they really aren't loiterers.

"They won't follow you around, Father P. but they'll be there if you stick you nose out of the church door while it's dark out. Nat, it may be just be a couple of people on the far side of the parking lot talking quietly. Wade, you don't need anyone while you're awake, but there'll probably be a couple of people outside your apartment.

Wade leered at Nick, "If they're as good looking as the Bouncer Twins, they can lurk 'inside'." He grinned.

_Oh, brother!_ Nick thought, raising his eyes to the ceiling.

"Seriously, keep your eyes open, people. I wouldn't have thought we'd need anybody, but . . . well, as I said, if Isidris got some for me . . . ."

Natalie asked, "Is LaCroix really that angry or dangerous?"

Nick said, "That dangerous yes, but I find it hard to believe he would try a frontal attack. He's much more subtle; he'd try something in the background. Maybe having some visible bodyguards is just to belabor the obvious: He'll see them as a warning – certainly not a threat, to him anyway."

"Well, Nick, you can _formally_ introduce me to your kids later, they're so cute, they look just like you." She grinned broadly. Nick just raised his eyes to the ceiling, again.


End file.
